A servitor of the Shree Jagannath Temple, Madan Khuntia, was arrested by police on Monday in connection with the attack on mediapersons during the Niladri Bije (return to the sanctum sanctorum) ritual of lord Jagannath and His siblings on Sunday night.
The Singhadwar police arrested him on charge of attempt to murder.
The police took the action after local Otv reporter Madhusudan Mishra and two other journalists of television media lodged formal complaints at the Singhadwar police station alleging that some servitors attacked them, damaged their electronic gadgets and threatened for life while they were covering the standoff between the unruly servitors and district administration authorities, including the Collector over climbing of women relatives of the servitors atop chariots.
“As per the complaints lodged by the mediapersons, we have registered a case under section 307 (attempt to murder) and other sections of the IPC against the erring servitor. We have already nabbed one. The main culprit is absconding. Apart from this, police, through the CCTV footage, have identified 4-5 other servitors involved in the incident and they will be arrested very soon,” said Puri SP Sarthak Sarangi.
Meanwhile, Puri Collector Arvind Agarwal who was also abused by the servitors for protesting the climbing of women on chariot lodged two FIRs with the SP against six servitors who had misbehaved, abused and threatened him.
The six servitors are Damodar Mahasuara, Jayakrushna Mahasuara, Bhimsen Palankdhari, Rabi Das, Ipsit Pratihari and Saina Khuntia.
On Sunday night, the pahandi of Sudarsana during the Niladri Bije of the deities from the chariots to the abode was disrupted for hours after the Puri Collector protested Damodar Mahasuar, one of the chief cooks of the temple, for taking her daughter atop the chariots of the deities despite a ban.
Mediapersons who were out to find the reasons behind the delay in Pahandi were manhandled by the servitors. As the Collector warned that she would be arrested for violating the ban order of High Court, the Daita servitors stopped the Pahandi of Sudarshan which was in progress then. Peeved over live telecast of the incident a section of servitors suddenly attacked the camerapersons and reporters. little they knew that their act of violence was also telecast live through other cameras mounted on roof tops.
The incident happened in the presence of law Minister Arun Sahu, Puri MlA Maheswar Mohanty, Shree Jagannath Temple Chief Administrator Suresh Chandra Mahapatra and SP Sarthak Sarangi.
Meanwhile, SJTA Chief Administrator Suresh Mohapatra said it would be improper to blame all the servitors for this unfortunate incident.
“There are 2,000 servitor families. Barring this one (Damodar Mahasuar) all had obeyed the restrictions imposed by the temple administration on taking their family members on to the chariots. However, The district and the police administration have already initiated the process to take action against the erring servitor for whom the Pahandi was delayed for nearly one hour. Besides, the temple administration would examine the CCTV footage today and take action accordingly,” Mohapatra told reporters.
Hence, Mohapatra said since one servitor has violated the order the temple administration, it would not be proper to blame the entire servitor community for the incident.
Meanwhile, a new controversy erupted with Daita servitors alleging that the Shankaracharya was taking a contractor atop the chariots during his visits to the chariots on the Rath Yatra day.
The SJTA chief said he received the complaint of the servitors in this regard.
“They alleged that the Shankaracharya was taking a contractor to the chariots for last two years. A PIl was also filed in this regard at the High Court and they have made the temple administration a party,” said Mohapatra.